


The Comfort Of A Brother

by TheSameEmily



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, OT5 Friendship, niam friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-04
Updated: 2015-09-04
Packaged: 2018-04-19 01:09:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4727066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSameEmily/pseuds/TheSameEmily
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Niall's microphone gets turned off during Little Things, Niall gets sad and Liam comforts him</p><p>A Niam One Shot</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Comfort Of A Brother

**Author's Note:**

> I literally have no idea what this is, I kind of tried something new, like writing something a bit sad and this was the outcome. I know this is a bit shorter than normal but think I'm going to stick to writing humorous and happy Niam one shots that are normally longer from now on, so look out for more of those! Here's the link to the video that inspired this, my version is a bit out there but that's just how I write Niam and I can't really write it any other way, though I do know it's very different, I hope you don't mind my way! More one shots like my first Niam one shot are soon to come! https://youtu.be/47ydH2GKzEk  
> Hope you enjoy!

 

 

 

 

In the beginning of One Direction, when they performed live on the X-Factor Louis didn't get any solos. Niall got much fewer than the other boys but he still got some, as for Harry, Liam, and Zayn they got the most solos. Liam started off every song they sung and Harry had a lot of the verses whereas Zayn lead the bridges and choruses.

Louis had taken notice to this. It wasn't really anything you could ignore but didn't really discuss it until the boys had to write about their X-Factor experience where he mentioned it. When they released their first album, Louis worked very hard to try and get more solos to showcase his voice but the management told him, that his voice wasn't strong enough so he got solos but not nearly enough as the fans thought he should have.

Niall didn't really try to get any more solos than he was given because he felt as if management would give them to him when he deserved them. Though he didn't realize that management was not exactly going to change their ways unless he fought against it.

When they recorded the first album it came as no surprise that Liam had the most with almost eighteen minutes, Harry with sixteen, and then Zayn with fourteen. The two other boys were tied at seven. Louis felt like he had somewhat improved, going from none to seven minutes. Niall didn't mention it, Louis though, did but Niall always kept quiet anytime the boys talked about how they should sing a lyric or anything regarding things like that because management obviously didn't want his input in most of the songs or lyrics as he didn't sing hardly any of them.

Niall didn't feel like his voice was the weakest out if the bunch but then when he did try to decide who's was he realized no one else's made sense but his own. The next album they focused more on harmonies and singing together rather than their own voices so Louis and Niall were once again tied at the bottom though Niall was a bit lower than Louis but with Harry having the most this time. Even though was focused on harmonies Niall didn't participate in those harmonies nearly as much as the other boys did.

Louis was very disappointed but made the best out of it and fooled around a ton during the 'Take Me Home Tour to make up for not singing as much. During these three years management had told Niall he needed fixing in many areas. They made him get braces to fix his teeth, and made him get a vocal coach to help strengthen his voice. It was there that time when they had made him go see a vocal coach in his spare time that he was certain that he was the weakest out of the five.

Liam figured it out immediately when Niall started acting different and he sat him down for a chat where Niall poured his heart out to the older boy. Liam made it his mission to make sure that Niall had plenty of fun on stage and off and in addition to doing that, Liam also made sure to pay much more attention to Niall wherever they were, it didn't matter.

Though that was quite hard because believe it or not the boys had chorography and they couldn't go certain places during certain times. So if Liam saw that Niall looked down and he wasn't near him, he couldn't do anything to help. Because of that Liam made sure to tell the other boys his worry before the tour and he had to depend on them to help cheer him up, or find out what was wrong when Niall looked down.

Niall and Louis's friendship was unique, and very odd. With Liam and Niall, Liam was very protective over him and that's how they acted with Niall being taken care of by Liam and neither of them minded. Zayn was also protective over Niall but it didn't happen much. Most of the time Zayn was cuddly with Niall and they just liked to lay with each in silence. Niall didn't mind that nor did Zayn. Harry with Niall was the giggling bunch, they adored having tickle fights and fooling around with each as they were the two youngest and when Harry was with Niall it showed.

Louis with Niall was half and half. Half of the time the enjoyed joking around with each other and the other half Louis was insanely protective. When he was acting one of these moods around Niall, you could see that the other one existed and they bounced off each other. When they were fooling around though, Louis was nowhere near protective or guarded over Niall but when he was, he kept his humor but in some way was still serious.

The concerts were always kept fun and lighthearted with Louis's attitude so Niall really didn't think much about how much more the boys were singing and how low his voice seemed to be heard during the chorus's and harmonies he actually did et to participate in. The management paid attention on telling the sound guys when to turn down Niall's mic during the chorus's but then when it should be back up again for his very few solos. But for this show they got careless.

Niall at first didn't notice this but with the obsessive time he spent on Twitter it didn't take long for him to figure out. Lot's of fans were supportive and were yelling at modest telling them to let Niall sing and that made Niall smile, but others were not quite as nice. Whenever Niall read those tweets that were just shoving hate down his throat, he believed every word of it even though he knew it wasn't true but when he was upset logic and him didn't mix.

Liam found out what had changed Niall's mood quickly and was also quite upset but he made sure to cuddle Niall at that time assuring him that none of it was true. Liam was now more observant than ever with Niall's Twitter habits and watching his mood making sure that he was happy and wasn't reading the hate.

They all arrived at the venue and got their hair and makeup done before all plopping down backstage after all the non stop touring was quite tiring and stressful. To chill out they almost always played a game of Fifa but Zayn normally slept, which was why he was laying on the separate couch, dead to the world.

"Niall, you gonna play?" Louis asked as he was setting up the game while Liam and Harry waited on their phones.

"Sure, am I going to team with you?" Niall assumed he was going to as they liked to team up against Liam and Harry because Liam wasn't to bad but Harry absolutely sucked at video game football and real life football.

"Yup, is that a problem Leprechaun?" Louis teased as he looked up from the game box with a teasingly, fond smile on his face.

"Not at all Tommo." Niall smiled back while sitting down next to Louis with Liam and Harry above them on the couch. He accepted the offered controller from Louis and got comfortable as the game started.

The game sped by and it seemed like five minutes later Paul came bounding into the room, throwing them their microphones and directing them the way to the stage before then pushing them out. While they were walking out Paul shouted a good luck before the door slammed shut.

The show started and the boys jumped around the stage, getting pumped up, and picking up the random things the fans threw on stage. They then got to one of the slow songs of the set list, Little Things and all sat at their designated spots while Niall started with the guitar.

Niall and Louis were meant to sit next to each other with Harry, Liam, and Zayn on the other side so it could be on the verge of even. The song started normally and by the time they got to Niall's solo the whole crowd was singing along.

Then when Niall started singing Louis could here his voice fading out and then falling silent, in the mist of the panic of the crowd not being able to hear Niall's voice Louis immediately put his own microphone under Niall's mouth and his voice was suddenly his voice broadcasted around the stadium once again.

Sadly this wasn't a new occurrence though it wasn't a common one, it had happened before and weirdly Louis was there each and every time offering his mic so the audience could hear Niall's beautiful voice that modest didn't appreciate.

Though Louis was really surprised on why this had happened again. Since it had happened more than once Liam got sick of it and found it disgusting that management would do something like that. He was appalled so he took the responsibility of going and talking to modest about it and somehow made them agree to stop.

Liam had told the boys and Niall that the problem had been resolved so Louis honestly didn't know why it was happening again. He made sure Niall knew that he did not know anything about this by shrugging every time Niall questioned him with a confused look.

"Is your microphone working now?" Louis asked in a hopeful tone when he heard Niall's voice quietly when he removed his own microphone. Niall shook his head and continued to sing before directing the job over to the fans.

Louis kept the microphone near Niall's face so his voice could be heard and tried to keep the mood up while joking around and reading some of the fans funny signs. Niall smiled and laughed but it was obvious that they weren't real ones and that he was still upset

They finished Little Things and Niall looked quite cool with it and effortlessly blamed it on the technical problems and the audience believed him. Louis though not so much, Louis could see the look of sadness still evident on Niall's face and the look of him trying not to cry while attempting to cover it up with a shaky smile and succeeding with the audience but failing to convince Louis and the other boys.

They were on stage and still had about six songs left and they couldn't comfort Niall yet but Niall recovered surprisingly really well but whenever Louis or Liam walked past him they could see the tears threatening to fall and the faint but still there dried tears on his cheeks. The fans had labeled it as sweat as it was quite hot out but Liam and Louis could tell when Niall was sad from a mile away.

Whenever Liam would pass Niall or was choreographed to be next to Niall, Liam would pull him into a hug or a little cuddle before kissing his cheek and then Niall would give him a slight smile before going to where he was directed to be next.

It was only natural for Liam to be that touchy with Niall so after Little Things, he brought up the affection level by a ton and touched and fooled around with Niall a lot more while he tried to silently comfort him with nothing but his actions.

Every time Louis walked near Niall, he would use his almost most often use of comfort which was humor and making Niall laugh wasn't normally hard, he laughed at everything Louis did. Today though, after the occurrence that had happened Niall laughed but it never was a real laugh and Louis knew that even if the audience didn't.

Louis then used his less often used source of comfort which was just cuddling him so since they were on stage they couldn't really do anything but Louis tried his best to give Niall a sign of affection or love most times he was within arms reach.

Harry was almost always the one who would be the most engaging and interactive with the crowd but he toned it down a ton so he was able to focus on Niall. Anytime Niall would pass, Harry would put a hand on his shoulder while silently asking if he was all right and most times his answer would be just a smile that was barely noticeable.

Zayn was not particularly touchy with the boys on stage so he couldn't really touch or go closer to Niall with drawing suspicion and making it obvious. Zayn however looked at Niall a lot more and asked with his eyes and somehow Niall understood him. Niall just nodded and smiled slightly every time Zayn would direct a facial expression towards him that Niall interpretedd as Zayn asking if he was okay.

The concert was completed on a high note and the boys skipped off the stage together and Liam was pretty sure the fans could see them all leaning in to Niall and finally being able to ask him if he was okay. Niall just shook his head and looked down trying to cover up the fact he was crying. It obviously didn't work and Liam stopped their walking and made eye contact with Louis while pointing his hand towards the door silently telling Louis, that the other boys and him should go into the other room and they would join them soon.

Liam lead them to the couch and pulled Niall onto his lap and adjusted him so he could see Niall's face but also run his hands through Niall's hair. Liam knew Niall really liked when someone was combing his hair with their fingers, he said it allowed him to feel relaxed and that it was soothing.

"Nialler, it's okay, you're okay." Liam comforted as he moved his free hand that was not running through the Irish's hair and went under Niall's shirt so he could rub the blonde's stomach.

"No it's not! What did I ever do wrong?" Niall asked his voice still thick from the crying he had been doing and still was.

"You did nothing flower, don't think you're in the wrong here, because you're not whatsoever." Liam assured the younger lad while not stopping either movements of his hands.

The two boys sat in silence while Niall leaned into the touches of comfort that Liam was providing with his hands moving on Niall's stomach and scalp. Soon after, Niall's cry's turned into sniffles and he had dried tear tracks running down his cheeks that Liam noticed immediately when he felt Niall move and he immediately frowned at them. Liam could still see the glimmer of sadness in Niall's eyes as well as the dried tears and he really wanted to hurt the guys who put them there.

None of the boys understood why their modest did this, but Liam thought he had put a stop to it. Obviously not, but Liam knew he and the boys wouldn't stop there trying. Before Niall had moved Liam thought he had been sleeping but that didn't mean he had ever stopped his comforting movements.

"Lili?" Niall asked while looking up at the slightly older boy.

"Nini?" Liam said back with a small smile forming on his face and he was overjoyed when Niall mirrored his actions.

"Don't ever call me that again. You can stick to your hundreds of others." Niall told Liam as his smile grew larger.

"You're okay petal?" Liam asked but kept the mood light with the joke of using one of his many nicknames for the younger boy.

"I'm fine, I guess." Niall's smile faded a bit as he started reflecting on the things that had only occurred about thirty minutes before.

"You guess?" Liam tilted his head in confusion and stopped his hands, hoping Niall would answer honestly but not get sadder at the mention of the emotional topic.

"Hey! Why'd you stop!?" Niall asked when he felt Liam's hands slow to a resting position and ceased to run through his hair or his stomach.

"Love, you haven't answered my question." Liam pointed out but started running his hand through the blonde's hair again but didn't make a move to start his other hand that was still resting on Niall's lower half.

"What about my belly?" Niall looked up at Liam with pleading and hopeful eyes, he wasn't necessarily trying to avoid the question, mostly stall and regain Liam's hand movements on his head and stomach.

"Are you okay darling?" Liam repeated but his hand started rubbing soothing circles on Niall's stomach again and he could feel Niall instantly relax into his arms as he snuggled further into Liam.

"I'll be okay, just don't leave." Niall told Liam and Liam just hugged him tighter and pulled Niall in closer.

They sat like that for about twenty more minutes before Liam heard a quiet knock on the other door. The door slowly opened and Louis's head poked through and soon Zayn's and Harry's followed. Louis came in with some food on a plate. Harry brought a blanket and Zayn was carrying a glass of water.

"We bring food!" Louis cheered quietly as he walked over to where Niall was laying on Liam and handed him the plate of food.

"Thanks Lou." Niall took the plate and sat up but didn't remove himself from Liam's lap. He just sat up slightly so he was sitting on Liam's lap instead of lying.

Niall finished eating very quickly and invited the boys to take part in on his and Liam's cuddles session. The boys all laid together and Louis and Liam kept talking quietly to Niall, telling him how amazing and talented he was just in case he began have doubts. Harry and Zayn were being comforting too. Harry was rubbing his shoulders and arms almost as if he was giving Niall a massage to calm him down.

Whereas Zayn's, hands ran up and down Niall's leg, rubbing it in a comforting gesture. Liam's hands hadn't stopped their movements and were still running through the blonde's hair but Liam had let Louis take over rubbing Niall's stomach. Louis made sure to rub it soothingly also knowing it made the boy feel calm and comforted but every now and then he'd spider his fingers around to make the blonde giggle and the ticklish sensation.

Paul walked in on the boys all cuddled on the slightly larger than normal couch, that held two sleeping boys. Harry and Niall had fallen asleep but when Paul walked in and tried to only talk to Liam to tell them they needed to go to the bus, Harry awoke. They all decided to not wake Niall and carried him to the bus before all heading to the back room to restore the cuddling session.

Niall had awaken from being jostled in the boy's arms but pretended to still be asleep so he could continue being carried though he knew if the boy's found out he was awake they still would carry him. Though the show that night was one of the worst ones, if Niall had his boys he knew everything could only get better, because they would always be there for him.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Leave kudos and comments telling me what you thought! xoxoxo


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